I have two questions about bulemia. I've struggled with weight and eating disorders all my life, but binging and purging has just become a factor in the past couple years. I'm getting help, and working on stopping, but I have questions for others that have suffered from the same problem.
1. How can I know if I've damaged my esophogus from the purging? Does it take longer than a couple years to do that damage?
2. Do all bullemics lose weight from purging? I've actually gained weight despite the fact that I was purging at almost every single meal. I don't really understand that...I know it doesn't change the fact that it's still an ED and a problem so I'm getting the emotional help I need, but I'm just curious about why that would have been.

hi gg - well done on seeking help for your ed. I was bulimic for 6 years but with a long hard journey have managed to beat it. I don't know the answers but i can tell u what i think. I think if there was damage internally you would know about it as pain usually signifies a problem so if you are in pain you should probably go to your doc to be on the safe side. I tore my diaphram muscle from all the heaving, it was excruciating and was bedridden with it but it repaired itself with rest and time. Secondly not all people loose weight with purging and it is possible to gain weight despite efforts to rid yourself from the binge as most binge food if highly calorific and the body does inevitably manage to ingest some of the food despite purging. Most binge food is high in calories and carbohydrate so I found it was best to avoid these. My body had developed an intolerance to certain foods too, as to my abuse of them, i get pain if i eat wheat -so that is pasta, cakes, bread, biscuits -all the things i binged on. I got a food intolerance test done privately. Eliminating these helped greatly in my recovery and i have discussed this with my doctor. It is worth to visiting a dietician too i think. Anyway sorry i don't really have the answers you're probably looking for and good luck with the recovery. :wave:

Thank you. That is great advice! I will talk to the doctor because my throat has really been hurting...and not in a sore throat kind of way.

Glad it was maybe of some help.:) I used to get a sore throat like you describe, i used to get a feeling of swollen glands after purging. It went away once i stopped it though.